A Forest Full of Jade
by KittenJedi
Summary: Completed. A kind-hearted adventurer new to Pandaria takes on the task of rescuing young cubs from Dawn's Blossom who are lost in the Jade Forest and frightened into hiding by a scary story about a local pandaren widow-only to realize that some stories are all too real.
1. Chapter 1

Title: A Forest Full of Jade

Author: KittenJedi

The Jade Witch quest chain... Intrigued me. That and I think that the pandaren cubs are absolutely ADORABLE. The quest chain had several moments that I thought were adorable, as well as some that were a little worrisome. It gave me the idea for this bit of fluff.

Gypsy is based off one (well, several, as I re-use names) of my characters in World of Warcraft.

I own nothing but the concept of a few of the characters, the rest belongs to Blizzard Entertainment. I'm just playing with the toys for a while. I promise I'll put them back when I'm done.

I do not promise what condition they will be in when I do.

Gypsy looked around Dawn's Blossom, feeling a sense of unreality setting in. When she had reported for service and had arrived on this continent with the rest of the Alliance Forces dispatched, she had never expected to encounter anything like these pandaren. They seemed so peaceful, so content... Their settlements were unlike anything she had ever seen in her travels through Azeroth, the structures and even the land itself filled with a new kind of beauty to be discovered. A part of her felt terrible for what was happening, the destruction that was being brought to the shores of this land by the search for Prince Anduin-no, she corrected herself silently yet sternly-he was to be referred to only as the White Pawn, even in the privacy of her own mind. Horde had landed on these shores as well, the resulting conflict between the two factions regrettable but unavoidable. If she should be captured, she could not think of the prince. Certainly not by name.

It would probably be best if she died before she was captured, she mused as she moved through the small town, giving smiles and nods of greeting to pandaren who stared at her curiously, having to bite her lips to hold back laughter at some of the things she overheard.

Not that she would be easily taken by anyone, she mused. Death would, in fact, probably be easier, and come swifter than capture ever would. Gypsy was a skilled hunter, she and her various animal companions working together as a team to become a well honed weapon fit for King Varian Wrynn's hand. Gypsy's foster family (what little there was of it) had all died in Theramore, a pain that still lingered fresh in her heart, but it was a pain that only helped to fuel her hatred for the Horde. Except that hatred was probably too kind of a word for what she felt. Far too kind a word.

"That poor creature!" She heard a pandaren woman whisper to someone, unaware that her voice was carrying so well, "It's so skinny! It must be starving!"

Gypsy had to hide a smile. It was true that she was a scrawny thing, particularly for a human. She was even scrawny compared to blood elves and high elves, and she had often heard friends and guildmates mutter that the slender elves needed to have a sandwich stuffed down their throats. She was in either her late teens or her early twenties (no one knew how old she really was, not even her), and despaired of her figure changing at all. Let alone in the ways she wanted it to change. She had been told on a few occasions by despairing seamstresses and armorsmiths that she was nearly all leg, legs that were long and coltish. Her mentor had tried to kindly point out that they were racehorse legs, but Gypsy wasn't having any of that nonsense. No use in trying to change things into something they weren't just with wishful thinking. A gangly (oh how she wished she could at least be described as "lithe!") and half-starved looking frame with long legs, miniscule curves that were not only hidden but obliterated by her armor, almost freakishly pale skin ("Honestly, don't you spend any time in the sun at all? You look sickly." Was another thing often said by her mentor) matched with inky black shoulder length hair that was unmercifully straight and limp. Even her eyes were unremarkable, too large for her face and were the unremarkable shade of grey. No one would ever say she had warm brown eyes, or sparkling blue or green eyes... She would have taken muddy hazel even, other than simple gray.

Despite her disdain with her appearance she had decided to just accept who she was. It was easier than always wishing to have or be something else. Occasionally she still did wish for changes, of course, but those times were getting fewer and further between as she grew older and more comfortable in her skin. Of course, it didn't help matters that she was mentored by a night elf woman, who moved with a grace that Gypsy couldn't help but envy and who drew the looks of men from nearly all races in a way that Gypsy knew she would never be able to. Still, a better teacher would have been hard to find.

She lost herself in her thoughts as she meandered through the village, finding and meeting those that she had been advised to speak to. A small crowd of curious pandaren cubs had surrounded her at first, following her from a respectful distance, watching her and listening to her conversations, but they had wandered away one by one and now she was on her own again, after accepting odd jobs from several of the older pandaren. She was nearing the front gate of the village when she heard a cub pleading with an adult pandaren male.

"Hey Mister Ironbelly! The witch in the woods turned my friends into jade. Can you help?" The young cub pleaded. Gypsy found her attention drawn to the cub; smiling slightly at the pink outfit embroidered with flowers, the hair pinned up in two buns covered with ruffled cloth and tied with ribbons. The imaginations of children...

Then she froze, remembering what she had been told earlier by Little Lu and Sully. Finding a jade statue of an orc, an older pandaren female who had tried to turn Sully to jade through magic, and had turned Sully's raccoon, Socks, into jade instead.

Oh this was bad. This was very bad.

The pandaren male was scolding the little one. "The Widow Greenpaw is NOT a witch." He was telling her firmly. "She just makes very lifelike jade statues."

"But-"

"No more, An." He waved the cub away, and the little one gave a huff, before going to the main gate, standing by the wall and looking out of the village anxiously. Gypsy approached her slowly, her white worg Skah padding along behind her.

"Hi there." Gypsy said softly to the cub, who looked at her with sorrowful eyes. "What's wrong, little one?"

"Shin tried to back out of the hozen dare but then we double hozen dared him and he couldn't back out of that." The little one said softly. Gypsy knelt in front of her so they weren't at such a height disadvantage. "There is a witch in the woods, but no one believes me. She turned my friend Shin into jade!"

"I believe you." Gypsy said softly, looking out the corners of her eyes to see if anyone was trying to overhear their conversation. It was only earning a few smiles as people watched the "strange outsider" speak to the cub. "A friend told me that a witch was going to turn him into jade, but his pet raccoon jumped in the way and was turned into jade instead."

The cubs eyes widened. "You believe me? Really?"

Gypsy nodded slowly.

"We were all so scared we tried to run back, but she sicced her big jade monsters on us. A bunch of my friends tried to get away by climbing trees. Can you help me save my friends?"

"I'll help." Gypsy promised. "I'm new here, so I need to talk to a few people first, see if there's any more information I can get. Don't worry," She saw the cub's sudden alarm, "I will help. I promise. And if it makes you feel better, I won't tell anyone I'm helping you."

"My Mom would get awfully mad." The cub admitted.

Gypsy tried to give her as reassuring smile as possible. "Then I'll keep quiet. I promise. I'll go look for your friends very soon." She stood, and went to see if anyone had any information on the surrounding area and/or this "Widow Greenpaw".


	2. Chapter 2

Title: A Forest Full of Jade

Author: KittenJedi

This chapter brought to you by for keeping me on track with my writing (I have to write now, not put it off and then go, "Oh. Well. I'll do it tomorrow." and never have that specific tomorrow show up properly.) Pardon any errors, I do not have a beta reader. Mostly it gets written, I re-read/scan over it to correct errors I catch, and then upload the file.

Gypsy is based off one (well, several, as I re-use names) of my characters in World of Warcraft.

I own nothing but the concept of a few of the characters, the rest belongs to Blizzard Entertainment. I'm just playing with the toys for a while. I promise I'll put them back when I'm done.

I do not promise what condition they will be in when I do.

Gypsy walked slowly into the darkening Jade forest, Skah an high alert. She had just navigated the Silkwood and her skin felt like it was crawling from hundreds of baby spiders all over-

_No_, she told herself firmly, stopping and closing her eyes, trying to take a deep, cleansing breath. _Best not to think about it. Move on. It's all in your head. All the spiders are dead now._

Then Skah let out a growl, a sound that could (and had) turn the bowels of unsuspecting foes liquid in fear. At nearly the same instant, Gypsy heard a child's scream.

She flew into action, gray eyes scanning the area and seeing the problem immediately. It helped that the problem was heading on a direct course in her direction. The cub she had talked to in Dawn's Blossom, An, was being chased by a large hunting cat that appeared to be made of jade. Gypsy had been holding her bow at the ready, but now she prepared to fire, the arrow magically appearing on the string as she drew it back, Skah already charging towards the feline with a snarl. He rammed into the beast from the side, distracting the jade animal from its original prey, who ran to hide behind Gypsy. Gypsy herself was carefully eyeing the situation and shooting arrows at the beast, who Skah was skillfully angling to provide her with the best angle to do so while he tried to lock his jaws around the neck of the cat.

The fight was over shortly, Skah padding back to Gypsy with a few scratches and punctures from fangs; injuries that were rapidly healed as she murmured the spell to mend her pet's wounds under her breath, kneeling and giving the worg an affectionate rub behind his ears. "Good boy." She murmured, before turning her attention back to An, raising a brow.

"I didn't expect to see you out here, little one."

An didn't look abashed in the slightest. "I tried to fight one of the jade tigers in the woods but they were too scary." She explained, "They stare at you and turn you into a jade statue!" She saw Gypsy's doubt, "Honest truth! Chen's sister's friend Ni heard it from Kai's mom." Gypsy had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling at that. "I want to be brave like you thought. Can you show me how to beat up those jade tigers?"

"I don't know that I could teach you how to be brave." Gypsy told her, allowing a faint smile, "But I will help and show you how to beat up the tigers. I dare say we will need to beat a few of them up to rescue your friends."

"So... You believe me about the staring at you and turning you into jade?" The cub asked anxiously.

"I believe it if it's true. I haven't seen it happen, and neither have you, so we don't know for certain yet. But," She temporized, "If there is a witch who can turn people into jade, it is possible that there are animals who can do so as well. Which means we will need to be very careful."

"I can be careful!" An protested, before grinning. "I'm sticking with you. You can be my bodyguard."

Gypsy chuckled. "All right. I'll be your bodyguard. But that means you stay close, you keep quiet, and you listen. To me and everything around you, all right?"

An nodded vigorously. "All right!" She agreed.

Gypsy looked over Skah to make certain the spell had healed his wounds properly, before she began to, slowly, move down the cobblestone path. "What happened out here, exactly?" She quietly asked An, almost wincing when the cub responded. Like almost all youngsters, she had problems with controlling her volume. Gypsy wondered if this was "quiet" for the cub. If so, they were in trouble.

"So the other kids, not me, dared Shin to knock on the Jade Witch's front door. He wouldn't do it though, but then someone, not me, hozen dared him." Gypsy nodded her understanding, wanting to tell the cub that all her protestations of "not me" were more telling than remaining silent. "Shin backed out of that but then someone, not me I swear, double hozen dared him. And not even Shin can get out of a double hozen dare. He went and knocked on the door but we didn't see what happened. Jade Monsters came at us and we ran away." She could hear the quaver that entered the cub's voice, "I never should have dared Shin..."

"Well, you can use this as a learning experience." Gypsy signaled Skah to go for another "Jade Monster", waiting for him to engage the beast before she began to fire arrows at it. "Don't dare or hozen dare or even double hozen dare anyone to do anything that could be remotely dangerous." The jade beast died a bit more easily than the previous one did.

"I can do that." An said confidently, before looking at the carcass dubiously, "I really hope it didn't eat any of my friends before you beat it up."

Gypsy shook her head once to indicate "no". "There would be signs of it." She countered, before smiling, putting her bow on her back a moment. "Speaking of, I see one of your friends." She approached a stand of bamboo and reached up to help a cub down. "It's safe now." She said reassuringly to the terrified cub, "You can come down."

The cub scrambled down and into her arms, hugging her for a moment, while she patted him on the back reassuringly. "Don't worry." She murmured, "I'll take care of the monsters. I promise." The cub finally looked up at her, giving a sheepish smile.

"I tried to boot a jade monster in the head, but I hurt my paw." He confided. Gypsy grinned at him as she set him on the ground.

"That was very brave of you." She told him, brushing back the soft fur on his head fondly, the way she would brush someone's hair back. Pandaren weren't all that different, she mused while An gave instructions to the cub for getting out of the section of forest they were in.

"Make a run for Dawn's Blossom." An finally told him, "We'll meet you there!"

"Okay!" The cub waved at the two of them (three if you included Skah) and hurried down the road that Gypsy had recently cleared of two jade felines and further on, spiders.

"Let's find the rest of your friends."


	3. Chapter 3

Title: A Forest Full of Jade

Author: KittenJedi

This chapter brought to you by for keeping me on track with my writing (I have to write now, not put it off and then go, "Oh. Well. I'll do it tomorrow." and never have that specific tomorrow show up properly.) and Motrin because it is the only pain medicine the badly concussed are allowed to take so it is now part of my life blood. Pardon any errors, I do not have a beta reader. Mostly it gets written, I re-read/scan over it to correct errors I catch, and then upload the file. Also, concussion.

Thank you to the people following this story, and people who marked it as a favorite. I'm glad you're enjoying it!

Gypsy is based off one (well, several, as I re-use names) of my characters in World of Warcraft.

I own nothing but the concept of a few of the characters, the rest belongs to Blizzard Entertainment. As does a lot of the quest text (screen shots for the win.) I'm just playing with the toys for a while. I promise I'll put them back when I'm done.

I do not promise what condition they will be in when I do.

"The next time I see a jade monster I'm going to punch it in the naughty bits." The final cub said as Gypsy lifted him down from his perch on a lamp post. She was, once again, hard put not to laugh. An was simply nodding.

"How did you get up so high?" She asked her friend, who merely shrugged. She told him to make a run for Dawn's blossom as she had the others, when one of the jade monsters heard her, and came barreling at them. She let out a thin little shriek, the other cub yelping and running off, while Gypsy and Skah dealt with the feline.

"Oh wow!" An breathed when it was finally dead, "It was like 'Rawwr!' and you were like 'Kahpowww!'"

Gypsy just chuckled. "Skah and I make a good team for exterminating things." She admitted to the young cub.

"You do!" An agreed, "You were awesome! You were like *bam* and they were like *aaaaa* and then they were smashed!"

"I guess smashed is a good description of what we did." Gypsy mused. "Was that the last of your friends?"

"Yes, and thank you so much for helping to find them. I still don't see Shin though..." An bit her lower lip nervously. "The Jade Witch must still have Shin. I... I can't do it! I don't want to see the witch. Can you please go talk to her and see if she has Shin? You're an adult. I don't think she would try to turn you to Jade."

Gypsy felt a knot of dread in the pit of her stomach. She didn't want to face the witch. She really didn't. But she had to. For Shin. And Socks. And whoever and whatever else the witch had turned into Jade. Gypsy nodded her assent, before slowly following the path through the woods, her eye on the small, quaint cottage in the popular pandaren style, with the sloping tile roof and jade statues littered about the yard. As they got closer she could see the statue of the orc and grimaced.

She saw a pandaren women with jade green streaks in her hair, dressed in matching jade clothing, standing in the round doorway of the house.

"Eep! It's the Jade Witch! I need to hide!" An squeaked, before running off. Gypsy was glad of that; in case things went wrong the little cub would be safe. The human hunter did not pause, but went up to the door, forcing herself to smile.

"Hello, are you Widow Greenpaw?" She asked politely as she could.

"Well well, a young visitor." The pandaren murmured, "I am Widow Greenpaw. Have you come to pay your respects at the shrine of my husband? He was a hero, you know. A master of Jade crafting and fighting. He was to be remembered forever they said." Gypsy was wondering if she really was a witch. She was rambling just as all the older humans she had known did. Truly, there was not much difference between the pandaren and other races as far as she could tell. "Do you like my statues?" Widow Greenpaw asked, "I craft them with special care saving only the best to provide my husband with company and protection."

"They are very lovely. Amazingly lifelike." Gypsy agreed, "I am looking for a cub that was last seen playing in this area. His name is Shin. Have you seen him?"

The Widow thought a minute. "I believe I heard some young whipper snapper in my garden out back. Let's go look for him." She moved through the doorway and past Gypsy, leading the human woman around the side of the house to the garden. Skah was close on Gypsy's heels, and the woman gave her pet a hand signal to tell him to be on guard. When they reached the garden behind the house, Gypsy noticed how a low mist hung on the ground, a jade statue on a pedestal in the middle of the circular area, other pedestals with statues on them around the border of the circle at intervals. The statue in the middle was of a proud looking pandaren male, while the statues of the pandaren on the other pedestals looked as if they were fearful, or angry. She could also see a few hozen, and a good number of statues of small pandaren cubs on the ground.

She was beginning to get a very bad feeling about all of this, when the Widow Greenpaw turned to smile at her, pointing at a particular statue of a cub. "Ah, here is the boy. Doesn't he look special? My late husband and I always wanted children." Gypsy could recognize that unnerving smile now, the gleam in her eyes. This was one pandaren woman who was had passed the edge of madness some time ago. "You should join our family, preserved forever in jade."

The pandaren began to cast a spell, but Gypsy hit her in the paw with an arrow, crying out for Skah to attack before much of anything else could happen. Then there was An, charging in and striking at the Widow, her small form and Skah's far larger one getting in the way of her shots.

"Stop!" An was yelling as she struck at the Widow again, "You will NOT turn my friends into stupid statues!"

"An! What are you...? Move before I hit you!" Gypsy shouted at the cub, trying to take aim.

Widow Greenpaw cackled, "Here kitty kitty." She called, summoning a smaller version of the jade cats Gypsy had fought in the forest. This one was charging directly for An, but the human woman fired an arrow at it to get its attention, hitting it in the shoulder. A second arrow hit it in the chest, a third to the eye finishing it, before Gypsy turned her attention back to the Widow, whom Skah was ravaging, and An was hitting from behind. Then An punched the Widow in the back of her knees and the elder pandaren hit the ground.

"An! Move!" Gypsy bellowed. The cub squeaked, but sprang back, and Gypsy let an arrow fly, right into the pandaren woman's open mouth as she tried to call for aid again. Widow Greenpaw fell back and Skah lunged forward, taking her neck in his jaws and squeezing, holding her down while Gypsy moved cautiously forward. She drew her bow, and fired two more shots; one into each of the Widow's eyes. The pandaren woman finally fell still, and Skah released her at Gypsy's silent command, while all around them statues began to turn from jade back into the people and things they had been before. Hozen scampered off, and several cubs were looking bewildered.

An had run to the statue-now a simple cub-that Window Greenpaw had indicated. "Yay! Shin! You're alive!" She looked over her shoulder to Gypsy, "Thank you so much, Gypsy. If you find me in Dawn's Blossom later I'll give you one of the things we stashed from our adventures." She promised, before leading Shin off before Gypsy could say a word.

Finally the human woman sighed, before looking around at all the confused cubs. "Come on." She told them with a soft smile, "I'll take you guys back to Dawn's Blossom where you can be safe, all right?" Slowly, being careful not to frighten them, she started to gather all the cubs the Widow Greenpaw had turned into Jade into a group.


	4. Chapter 4

Title: A Forest Full of Jade

Author: KittenJedi

This chapter brought to you by for keeping me on track with my writing (I have to write now, not put it off and then go, "Oh. Well. I'll do it tomorrow." and never have that specific tomorrow show up properly.) and Motrin because it is the only pain medicine the badly concussed are allowed to take so it is now part of my life blood. Pardon any errors, I do not have a beta reader. Mostly it gets written, I re-read/scan over it to correct errors I catch, and then upload the file. Also, concussion.

Thank you to the people following this story, and people who marked it as a favorite. I'm glad you're enjoying it!

Gypsy is based off one (well, several, as I re-use names) of my characters in World of Warcraft.

I own nothing but the concept of a few of the characters, the rest belongs to Blizzard Entertainment. As does a lot of the quest text (screen shots for the win.) I'm just playing with the toys for a while. I promise I'll put them back when I'm done.

I do not promise what condition they will be in when I do.

It took some time to get the small herd of pandaren cubs back to Dawn's Blossom. Most were stiff and had trouble walking. Gypsy had summoned her horse and had perched several of the worst cases on the animal's back. Several had asked to ride on Skah, but Gypsy had reluctantly told them no, that he and she both needed to be ready to go at a second's notice in case there were any more jade monsters in the woods, or something equally terrible. That had quieted most of the cubs down, except for one very young one, who broke into sobs.

Gypsy wound up carrying her back to Dawn's blossom in her arms as the group made their way to the town, listening to her and the other cubs chatter about their families, how they hoped everything was all right, how long had it been since they had been gone?

Gypsy wished she could answer questions for them, but she couldn't give them the good answers that they deserved, and told them that they would see if the Mayor could help.

When they reached town, Gypsy led the cubs to the house of Master Windfur, the mayor, and was quite surprised to see her mentor there.

"Alassiel?" Gypsy managed, surprised to see the statuesque night elf with her silvery white hair and pearlescent skin. The night elf turned to look at her and raised a brow, a grin of amusement twitching at the corner of her lips as she looked on her protégé, surrounded by at least a dozen cubs.

"Gypsy. I see you still have a way with children." Alassiel smiled, to which Gypsy rolled her eyes.

"I need to speak to Master Windfur about these cubs. It's... Rather important."

That was when Master Windfur turned to look curiously at Gypsy to see what was so urgent. When he saw her surrounded by cubs, one in her arms, his mouth dropped open in shock. Gypsy could swear she saw tears in his eyes.

"Mei?" He managed to ask, his eyes fixed on the small cub in Gypsy's arms. The cub, who had her small arms wrapped around Gypsy's neck, her head tucked beneath the human's chin, brightened at the sound of her name. She lifted her head hopefully, looking at him.

"Papa? You got skinny!" The little one gasped.

Master Windfur shook his head slowly, reaching out his arms for the cub, who Gypsy (reluctantly) passed to him. "No, Mei. It is Fai, your older brother." Now the tears were falling, and Gypsy felt as if a knife blade had been shoved into her stomach, and was being slowly twisted. How old had Widow Greenpaw been? How long had she been turning children into jade statues as "company" for her husband? Mei had told her that her brother was only a couple of years older, but this...

It seemed that it had been a long time indeed.

"Older brother Fai?" Mei asked in confusion, "But... You got so old!"

"And you are still the same as you were when you went missing... When we thought the spiders of the Silkwood had... Had..." He could not continue for a moment, and then turned his attention to Gypsy, trying to overcome his emotions. "How, Wanderer?" He managed to ask her, "How were you able to bring her home so unchanged after so long?" He pleaded with her.

"I overheard a cub, An Windfur-"

"My daughter." He said slowly, sounding almost dumbfounded.

"I overheard her earlier talking to Mister Ironbelly. She was saying that she saw a witch in the forest turn someone to a jade statue. I remembered a similar story I heard from a comrade not long ago, about how he had almost been turned into jade by a pandaren witch, but his pet raccoon Socks got in the way and saved him. I thought it would be best to take a look, to see if the stories were real, and not half mad ramblings of a sober dwarf and an exhausted jinyu or the imagination of a child at work. When I got there and started to talk to the woman, Widow Greenpaw, she took me to the garden behind her house and tried to turn me into a statue. I do not regret to say that I killed her. Once she was dead, many of the statues came to life. All of these cubs were among those who came to life."

The mayor looked floored and swayed a moment on his feet, little Mei still held tightly in his arms. Gypsy and Alassiel both rushed to catch him by his arms and help him to sit before he collapsed, others moving forward, looking from the cubs to Gypsy, and listening to the story in awe and horror.

"Children have often gone missing," The mayor finally managed, before looking up at Gypsy, then looking around at everyone in the room, stunned. "We would find remarkably lifelike statues in the garden of Widow Greenpaw, but she always said that she crafted them to honor the lost, that they might keep her husband company..."

"Even as children, we heard the stories that Widow Greenpaw was a witch," A Dawn's Watcher broke in. She seemed young, newly come to adulthood. "I remember sharing the stories in hushed whispers when I was young, but as I grew I and my friends discarded the stories for what we thought was truth... That the Widow Greenpaw was only a lonely woman who made excellent statues from jade."

"How could we know the truth?" Another Dawn's Watcher asked brokenly, "How?"

"Is... Is my son Shuang among those you brought back?" One older, particularly portly Watcher who had been speaking to the mayor earlier pushed forward, his eyes scanning the group of cubs, who were standing together, confused and frightened.

"Papa?" A boy asked from the back of the group, sounding so hopeful, and Gypsy found herself forcing back tears at the sound of joy the watcher let out when he ran forward to find his son.

"We will care for them and find all their families." Master Windfur told Gypsy softly, "The people of Dawn's Blossom owe you a great debt. One I do not think we can ever repay-"

"No." Gypsy told him softly, shaking his head. "You owe me nothing. It was worth it, to see them reunited with those who love them and have missed them." She reached out to take Mei's hand in hers, "Be good for your family and your brother, okay? He's had a bit of a shock. I think he'll need your help to recover. And from the sound of it, you have a cousin close to your age. Sounds like fun."

Mei gave Gypsy a grin, squeezing her hand. "Thank you." She whispered, before turning away and hugging her big brother tightly. Gypsy smiled, and assured the cubs that they were in good hands now, earning a few hugs, and many words of gratitude as Dawn's Watchers came forward to get the names of the cubs, while other Watchers hurried off to alert those families named by the cubs.

Finally, Gypsy escaped from the building, her mentor close behind her.

"I'm proud of you." Alassiel said after a moment of silence where the two simply walked down a path and across a bridge in the town, Skah and Alassiel's white lion Mizo following behind them, "You did well. Although it is always good to have someone in your debt."

"Not this time." Gypsy grinned up at her mentor, "This time it isn't. This time it was about doing the right thing. I... Some of those families have been missing their children for years. Decades, if you look at Master Windfur and his sister. She was telling me on the way here that she hoped her big brother Fai was okay, and that he was only two years older than her."

Alassiel frowned slightly. "I did not think of it like that."

"You're thousands of years old. I honestly didn't expect you to. I think it might be something that only mortals really think about." Gypsy countered.

"All the kal'dorei are mortal now." Alassiel countered. Gypsy shook her head.

"But most of you are still hundreds, if not thousands, of years old. Mortality for you is... Different than it is for us shorter lived races."

"I suppose I must concede that point to you."

"You only suppose?" Gypsy could see An ahead of her, walking with Shin, "Excuse me. I need to go talk to those two for a minute."

"You and children." Alassiel sighed, watching as the scrawny human went to kneel before the two cubs. She turned away, calling over her shoulder, "I'll be looking at the amenities in the inn!" She called, earning a wave of dismissal from her protégé. The night elf chuckled and walked away, calling the two hunter pets after her.

"Hey you two." Gypsy smiled at An and Shin, before looking to Shin. "How are you feeling?"

"My legs feel stiff." He grumbled.

She laughed. "I heard a lot of that on the way back. I brought back all the cubs that were lost in her garden. You should feel better soon." She looked to An, "One of the cubs was your aunt, Mei."

"Auntie Mei?" An gasped, covering her mouth in surprise, her eyes wide with a mix of shock and delight. "But she went missing when Papa was little! That's why he doesn't like me to leave the town to play in the forest! You mean the witch got her too? And you saved her just like Shin?"

"Looks like." Gypsy agreed, "She's going to have a hard time adjusting to everything being so much older. I think she will need your help."

"I'll help! I'll help lots!" An said, before suddenly hugging Gypsy, "Hurray! Thank you so much! Shin is saved, and the others we didn't know about were saved, and you beat up the old witch! And the best part is our parents were never told what we were up to! Hurray!" She paused, before looking to Gypsy suspiciously. "... Our parents weren't told what we were up to, right?"

Gypsy laughed again, shaking her head. "I just told your father I overheard you talking to Mister Ironbelly when I decided to investigate. Which is true enough."

An grinned in relief, "Excellent." She breathed, "It looks like everybody who came back are trying to get rid of whatever jade they had. Toya's been collecting it for some reason and said you should go chat with him. Oh!" An pulled a large Jade raccoon out of a pocket that must have been as enchanted as Gypsy's bags were, "And this is for you!"

"Socks!" Gypsy cried happily as the raccoon shuddered and came to life in her hands. "You are Socks, right?" The raccoon gave a chirrup that sounded like an agreement, "Sully is going to be so happy to see you in one piece." She told the critter, scratching it behind the ears, before smiling at An. "I should go. Be careful from now on, okay?"

"I will!" An promised fervently, before seeing one of the Dawn's Watcher's coming her way. "I need to go. Bye! And thank you!"

Gypsy watched the girl go with a smile, before looking at Socks. "Mind travelling with me for a while before I get you back to Sully? I have a few other things to do."

The raccoon seemed to think a minute, before letting out a chitter of approval.

"Oh." Gypsy added as she stood, "And I promise to make certain my worg won't eat you."

She had quite a time getting Socks to calm down after that.


End file.
